Books about unrequited love - recommendations wanted

[Bookridden]

I want glorious romance, longing looks, sexual tension, nobly repressed emotion etc! What should I be reading? I'm not averse to chick lit, but prefer a more literary read on the whole. Something like the scenes between Jane Eyre and Rochester. Thank you!

[gruffaloshmuffalo]

Ooo no idea but I'm definitely place marking

[Dapplegrey1]

Gone with the Wind has unrequited love at the end.
I'll try to think of some others.

[VestalVirgin]

I think "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" has this, but I found it hard to read that book because of the language. However, perhaps there is an English translation that's easier to read?

It is certainly very literary ...

[MermaidofZennor]

What an interesting subject. Will have a think about this and see what I can come up with too.

First thoughts - Anita Brookner and Barbara Pym.

[MermaidofZennor]

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Emma and Persuasion by Jane Austen

[Jclm]

My best read on unrequited love has been 'monsieur' by emma Becker. Quite a recent read. Amazing.

[MermaidofZennor]

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton?

[moonshine]

Persuasian - Jane Austen, Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, Notes on a Scandal (but maybe not all quite the unrequited love you were thinking of!) Hardy's Madame Bovary and Far from the Madding Crowd (I love a bit of Hardy though...), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Wuthering Heights, the Count of Monte Cristo...there are quite a lot actually.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

God, don't read The Age of Innocence - it's dreadful imvho.

Boring butler one - can never remember what it's called but somebody will know.

Adrian Mole!

[MermaidofZennor]

Yes I'd agree with you, Remus, but the OP might have a different opinion of it :)

Boring butler :o The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I was talking to somebody last week who loves 'The Age of Innocence'. They are clearly insane and need to get out more.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

The Possession of Delia Sutherland by Barbara Neil.

[Superoo]

A bit of a guilty pleasure which I will have to dig out because I've not read it for years - Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor.

[ThenLaterWhenItGotDark]

Love in the time of cholera.

Am plodding through it at the moment. I love a bit of literary unrequieted.

I quite like books with mod cons like telephones and fridges though as well!

[Sosidges]

Mrs Sinclairs Suitcase for me.

[NipSlipper]

'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin, as mentioned above, is a lovely book. Don't be put off by the sickly sweet film. Its much more poignant and subtle and heart- wrenching than the film.

'Love in a time of cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

'Americanah' by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie. Unrequited love is not the main theme, but two young lovers become separated by circumstance (one in the USA and one in the UK and then Nigeria) and it follows their lives and the twists and turns that keep them apart for a looooong time.

[GerdaLovesLili]

Just finished "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith. It's the definitive unrequited love book.

[Feawen]

You want Villette by Charlotte Brontë -nods firmly-

[EverySongbirdSays]

The End Of The Affair falls into that category I would think

Looking For Alaska

Memoirs of A Geisha

I would read Home by Marilynne Robinson too but in order for the ending to really kill you you must read Gilead first.

[anonymice]

Precious Bane by Mary Webb

[gillybeanz]

I have just read Wuthering Heights and found so much language I didn't understand I'm going back and getting the bits I missed.

Sorry that's not unrequited love, woops.
I'll get my coat

[intricatedispostion]

Thorn Birds by Colleen McCollough.

[Papergirl1968]

I was going to suggest The Thorn Birds too!

[SatsukiKusakabe]

Do you mean unrequited? Or just unconsummated/forbidden love?

A Tale of Two Cities is the ultimate in noble unrequited love, but not exactly longing looks and sexual tension. But it will break your heart.

Persuasion is the best in terms of fighting against hidden feelings believing that all hope is gone. Sense and Sensibility also for putting feelings aside for propriety's sake, and for loving someone without needing it to be reciprocated.

War and Peace

Middlemarch

Captain Corelli's Mandolin?

Long time since I've read it but Lorna Doone?

[EverySongbirdSays]

I was struggling with the "unrequited" bit as well, quite rare, unless creepy, as it doesn't fit narrative tropes.